The Smiths - Hatful of Hollow

Popular music changed a lot in the past decade. Not only the music industry's business model completely collapsed with the Internet file sharing culture, but also the average content got much poorer.

I am not playing the old scratchy crying game of "there are no great bands nowadays" - there are! The problem is that during the ongoing "transformation", the industry has become so blind with fighting "the pirates" (unable to accept that you can't fight an "army" of 100 million young people), that it often made awfully wrong short term choices, like (1) pushing crap ephemeral authors to the market, (2) throwing legal mambo jambo against the people who previously supported the business, and (3) overdoing the "music video" as a promotional resource.

As for (1) just look at 2002's best selling charts and try to pick artists you still are listening to AND whose perceived quality you think it did *evolve*. Ah, see? How many did fit the conditions? 2, 3? Not bad...
As for (2), no comments.
As for (3) compare the music videos of the top female singers with Playboy's. The single difference is that Playboy's cast don't wear skirts at all. In other words, music videos, which were a tool for promoting the music, became a tool for promoting nothing, but the "artists" - where is the art?

These thoughts of mine happen whenever I collide with precious CDs of the past... In particular, I just listened to "The Smiths - Hatful of hollow" (TS-HH), an album that you'll have trouble finding.
TS-HH was first published back in 1984! Blimey!, that was 20 years ago! Still, it seems that consumer pressure was enough to sustain reissues in 1985, 1993 and 1995.

TS-HH is a collection of 16 Smiths' BBC session tracks, released shortly after the band's debut. The tracks feature very strong lyrics, mostly instrospective and depressive, not recommended for those spending money on shrinks.

My favorites are "#1 - William, it was really nothing" and "#12 - Accept yourself".
Just check their lyrics:

<lyrics start>
#1)
The rain falls hard on a humdrum town
This town has dragged you down
Oh, the rain falls hard on a humdrum town
This town has dragged you down
Oh, no, and everybody's got to live their life
And God knows I've got to live mine
God knows I've got to live mine
William, William it was really nothing
William, William it was really nothing
It was your life ...

How can you stay with a fat girl who'll say :
"Oh! Would you like to marry me?"
"And if you like you can buy the ring"
She doesn't care about anything
Would you like to marry me ?
And if you like you can buy the ring
I don't dream about anyone - except myself !
Oh, William, William it was really nothing
William, William

#12)
Every day you must say
So, how do I feel about my life ?
Anything is hard to find
When you will not open your eyes
When will you accept yourself ?
I am sick and I am dull
And I am plain
How dearly I'd love to get carried away
Oh, but dreams have a knack of just not coming true
And time is against me now...oh
Oh, who and what to blame ?
Oh, anything is hard to find
When you will not open your eyes
When will you accept yourself, for heaven's sake ?
Anything is hard to find
When you will not open your eyes
Every day you must say
Oh, how do I feel about the past ?
Others conquered love - but I ran
I sat in my room and I drew up a plan
Oh, but plans can fall through (as so often they do)
And time is against me now...

And there's no-one left to blame
Oh, tell me when will you ...
When will you accept your life ?
(The one that you hate)
For anything is hard to find
When you will not open your eyes
Every day you must say
Oh, how do I feel about my shoes ?
They make me awkward and plain
How dearly I would love to kick with the fray ...
But I once had a dream (and it never came true)
And time is against me now...
Time is against me now...
And there's no one but yourself to blame
Oh, anything is hard to find
When you will not open your eyes
Anything is hard to find; for heaven's sake !
Anything is hard to find
When you will not open your eyes
When will you accept yourself ?
When ?
When ?
When ?
When ?
</lyrics end>

See? This is quality. It makes me (you?) think. Follow my suggestion and try to listen this album.

You can buy this and/or related products here.

for european costumers:

title: The Smiths - Hatful of Hollow (Audio CD)
price: £6.66
url: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00002496W/arturmarques
ASIN: B00002496W
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for american costumers:

title: The Smiths - Hatful of Hollow (Audio CD)
price: $14.99 (USD)
url: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002MIF/arturmarquesc-20
ASIN: B000002MIF
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for real time monetary conversions, please use the XE service.